Awakenings
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Sakumo Hatake was at the peak of his shinobi career. He was the Hokage's personal Anbu and had everything going for him except the fact that he was alone. but the tide was changing and war was looming in the future. and the Guardian goddess was awakened
1. Chapter 1

War was looming on the horizen.

They knew this for certain thanks to the many attacks on their borders. The other shinobi villages were pushing to spread out their territory. To build more, and expand their powers as military driven nations.

Hurizen Sarutobi, the third Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves was at his wits end. In the past month the village had been attacked over a dozen times. They had _lost_ over thirty shinobi.

_Weaknesses_ had been found.

In their defense methods, fighting methods. And in his people.

They were facing annihilation from the inside as well as out with no real way to restore order or peace. Except one. But he was loath to use it because it would involve the Guardian god of the valley that the village had been built in.

The same Guardian god that had given birth to the _greatest_ shinobi's in history of the known world as well as the blood line limits that many shinobi possessed. The same Guardian god that slept in a temple built deep under the village ground.

_Kyubbi no Kitsune, _the embodiment of the great fox god bound in human flesh and form._ Saya. _

He didn't want to disturb the goddesses rest. But it was starting to look more and more as if he didn't have a choice. Which meant that she would need a strong male to serve as her anchor. To keep her more malicious and dark nature supressed.

But he was no longer a young man. And could no longer serve the goddess like he once had. Before she had fallen asleep again. He sighed and pulled his hat off of his head and set it on his desk and ran a gnarled, aged hand over the bald spot on his head and thought for a moment.

He could no longer be the goddesses anchor. But perhaps someone else could.

All it would take is a male strong enough to _overwhelm_ her and pin her down if she became violent.

Sarutobi had many able bodied men in the village, many of them who were Anbu, and many others who were clan heads. Males of_ cunning_ and _strength_ and _honor_ and _worth_. Surely one of them could serve as the goddesses anchor.

He let his chakra spike a little bit knowing that it would summon his personal Anbu to his office and sat back and mentally counted the seconds until they arrived. Fang was the first to appear, his snarling white and red Wolf mask was a welcome sight to the elder as the younger man appeared in a puff of smoke, armed to the teeth and ready for a fight.

His mismatched blue and green eyes flickered around the room, pausing on the elder before he sighed and relaxed, letting his hand drop away from the katana blade slung across his back as several others appeared.

"Hokage-sama?" One of the Anbu said in a questioning tone as he looked at the elder curiously.

Sarutobi leaned forward in his seat. "Sorry about that but I need the lot of you for a favor."

"A favor?" Someone asked stupidly and was quickly silenced by the violent look that Wolf gave him. Sarutobi's lips twitched a little bit as he studied them. At least two of his personal Anbu were clan heads.

One was Hatake Sakumo and the other was Nara Shikaku. Both men were in their late twenties. Almost thirty really. Both were single and unattached. They were also strong and cunning and fierce. One of them would make a good anchor for the goddess.

Sarutobi dug a blank scroll out of his desk and opened it up then picked up a pen and quickly wrote down his request.

He would have his Anbu go by the homes of each clan head that was unattached and single and ask them to meet with him at the foot of monument mountain where the opening that led to the goddesses resting place was.

He'd take them all down there to the sacred temple and awake the girl and let her pick her anchor out of the lot of them. "I need you to take this scroll and read the content to the heads of the Nara, Hatake, Inuzuka, Aburame, Uchiha, Hyuga, Yamanaka, and Akimichi. It explains that I'm calling a meeting about how we will deal with the upcoming war with Iwa and Lightening. I expect _all_ men of marrigable age, whom are unattached, to meet me at the old cave at the base of monument mountain in three hours. Do I make myself clear?"

Wolf took the scroll as Sarutobi held it out to him and nodded his head before he vanished in a puff of smoke similar to the one that he had arrived in.

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Hiya ya'll, this is Babykitsune9 here.

I've been absolutely dying to write a fem Naru/Sakumo story so here it is.

Awakening.

Enjoy reading.


	2. Chapter 2

Wolf handed the scroll that the Hokage had handed to him to one of his subordinates then tapped Panther on the shoulder and signaled him to withdraw from the group.

Panther nodded his head and followed Wolf back to their homes to get cleaned up and change out of their Anbu uniforms so that they would look presentable for the meeting that they would be taking part in.

The second that Wolf slipped into his bedroom at home, he slipped back into his normal persona. He pulled off his snarling mask and set it on his dresser then started stripping while he mentally tried to figure out why his Hokage would want every male clan head of marrigable age to meet with him.

It sounded suspiciously like the Hokage was planning to marry one of them off for political reasons. But if that was the case then what did having any of them getting married have to do with the upcoming war?

Frankly he couldn't think of anything aside from a political alliance with the enemy villages through marriage to a dyamo's daughter or something.

He pulled some clothes out of his dresser then moved to his bathroom and flicked on the lights and blinked at the off white colored walls as he set his clothes on the sink counter then stepped into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror and almost cringed at his slightly haggard appearance.

He ran one of his hands along his jaw, noting the four days growth of stubble, the dark circles under his eyes from the lack of sleep in the past few days. His normally neat silver hair had grown out to the point where he looked like he had a lion's mane. The silver strands falling around his face, shoulders, and down to the middle of his back.

He studied his reflection in the mirror for a few minutes then sighed.

He needed a hair cut, a shave, and if he had more time he'd take a nap to do something about the dark circles under his eyes. Unfortunately though he had less than an hour to get cleaned up and ready for his meeting with the Hokage.

So a nap would have to wait until later on when he was home.

He cut his hair first, taking several inches off of the long strands so that they fell just below his shoulders while his bangs framed his face. Next he shaved off the four days growth, leaving his jaw smooth.

Next he cleaned up the mess he'd made and dumped the silver hair into the garbage can next to the toilet then climbed into the shower. He had twenty minutes left until the meeting and didn't want to be late.

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Sarutobi stood in the underground temple of the goddess, staring at the large crystalin lotus flower/alter where Saya slept.

The protective carved petals of the flower shaped coffin were gaping wide open, the smooth stone was pulsing in rhythm with her heart. Signifying that Saya was partially aware of his presence even in her sleep. She knew that there was trouble brewing for her great, great, great grandchildren. And she wasn't happy about it.

Sarutobi could feel it in the crackling of electricity in the air. Saya's subconscious way of showing her displeasure over the recent troubles of the village. She probably already knew about the shinobi whom had died too.

She probably knew about their deaths and in her own way was mourning them.

"Forgive me for coming here so soon Yoko-" Sarutobi said gently, using her former name as he walked over to the large flower and peered at the small, still, child like figure laying naked in the center of the coffin. "But we have need of you again. But then I'm sure that you already know this..."

He reached out and put one hand on one of the smooth pulsing petals and was startled when the flower suddenly started to glow faintly as he heard a small voice in the back of his mind whisper, _I know. _

Sarutobi looked back to the small figure, his dark eyes narrowing slightly as he studied Saya's new form. Or what he could see of it anyways.

She had chosen a lovely, _flawless_ form for herself this time.

He could tell by the scarrless smooth ivory skin of her lower back, buttocks, and legs. Instead of having a totally human appearance this time, she had chosen to maintain a little bit of her kitsune heritage and had small white furred fox ears. Her hair was a different color this time too. And longer.

It was no longer the soft shoulder length amber color it had once been. Now it was a pale mix of platinum with soft pink highlights to it, the soft silken strands spread out around her head and back creating a little pool around her body.

"You'll be choosing a new anchor for yourself-" Sarutobi said in a forced cheerful tone and paused when that same voice whispered. _New anchor? Why? What's wrong with you? _He chuckled at the curiosity coloring the question and said, "I can't be your anchor anymore, dearest. I've _aged_ far too much."

_How much time has passed? _

"You've been asleep almost forty seven years." Sarutobi answered as he recalled the first time he had been in the temple with the first and second Hokage's. It had been a few months before the first great shinobi war. Before he had become Hokage.

He'd been just a kid at the time. Fifteen years old, cocky, and full of so much promise that the Hokages had brought him before the lotus coffin and had awakened the goddess sleeping inside of it and had let Sarutobi create a contract with the girl.

Sarutobi remembered feeling startled and horrified at first. After all he had thought that the girl in the coffin was dead until she had climbed out of it and staggered over to him and fallen into his arms.

He remembered reaching out on a reflex and caught the small body and had pulled her against him on instinct and felt the soft thudding of her heart against his arm, he had felt the warmth of her body and had been so very confused over what had just happened that he'd had to be filled in by his two teachers while the girl was looked over in the hospital.

_I can't believe that I've slept for so long. I must have missed so much. _Saya's voice cut through his thoughts like a knife, drawing his attention back to the present.

"Yes. Yes you have."

_Will you tell me what I've missed?_

"Of course. We have some time to kill before your potential anchors get here."


	3. Chapter 3

Okay just to clear up some questions about ages and stuff.

Sakumo-28

Shikaku Nara- 26

Choza Akimichi-20

Inoichi Yamanaka-23

Hiashi Hyuga-22

(Natsu) I can't remember _any_ Uchiha names aside from the characters that are already known in the manga so this guy is more or less an OC-24 yrs old.

Shiba Aburame-21

Muraki Inuzuka (another OC since _Tsume_ is the head of the Inuzuka clan in the manga)-23

Okay now I have to give some back ground on Saya so that no one will be terribly confused.

Saya is more or less the _Kyubbi no Kitsune_, or at the very least closely related to it. Which is why in the final chapter of this story she will assume the name Uzumaki Naru. But that won't be until way, way, _way_ later on.

In this story Saya isn't a demon. She's a guardian god that was bound to human form and flesh.

And though she was bound to human form and flesh she is more or less immortal.

Her current body can be killed and then later on would give birth to her new form. This is supposed to be a way of both _weakening_ her and _controling_ her vast powers.

However free will is a bitch and she refused to play along with the selfish ambitions of mortals so after being betrayed she struck down her anchor at that time along with some others who's hearts were consumed by darkness and greed.

After that she moved to a valley where she lived her life peacefully for many hundreds of years until people started to appear in her valley. She couldn't kill them. Nor could she chase them away, because they would only come back in greater numbers.

So she struck a ballance and would more or less marry, breed, then fall into a deep coma like sleep. Then when she was needed she would be awakened and would create a contract with her new anchor, marry and breed again.

From her the greatest of shinobi were born. Including the sage of the six paths.

So Saya is _ancient_.

However because her body had recently been destroyed and given birth to her new form, which is _why_ she looks like a ten year old child in this chapter and maybe a few after it.

She suffers from some memory loss due to her long sleep and once she regains her memory a little bit she'll hit a growth spurt where her body will age over night so that she looks like an seventeen of eighteen year old young woman.

I think that's everything. If you have questions let me know.

Later.

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The clan heads all stood outside of the cave, patiently waiting for their Kage to appear while making small talk with one another. Hiashi Hyuga was in the process of courting an heiress that he had had his eye on for a while.

Choza had a crush on someone but was a bit too shy to approach her. Natsu Uchiha, and Shibi Aburame had finally decided to settle down after dragging their feet for the past several months.

Yamanaka was too busy with his work as an interrogator to bother showing any interest in marriage and settling down. In fact the prospect was enough to send him into hiding. So one could imagine how he must have felt standing there listening to everyone else talk about settling down and having kids.

But then Shikaku and Sakumo both probably felt the same since they didn't exactly look too keen about being called to this gathering themselves. Everyone looked at the two men expectantly and the two men visibly tensed up and stared at them.

"What?" Shikaku asked curiously. The others all exchanged slightly nervous looks with one another, knowing all too well that Sakumo Hatake and Shikaku Nara both had reputations as cold blooded killers that they _delighted_ in maintaining.

"Well, have the two of you finally decided to settle down too?" Choza asked Shikaku.

Shikaku shook his head while Sakumo ignored the lot of them. He had better things to do with his time than to feed these clucking hens the latest gossip.

Besides he wasn't stupid. The second he said _yea_ or _nay_ to them, he'd have every available woman in the village knocking on his door acting like bitches in heat in an effort to snag him as a husband. Which would cause him more trouble than any one person was worth.

Which was why he would keep his personal affairs as they were now; _personal_. And no one elses damn business.

Hiashi looked like he was about to open his mouth and say something to Sakumo when they all heard someone clear their throat and turned to look towards the source of the sound and saw their Kage standing in the cave opening looking at them with a bemused expression on his face.

The group bowed to the elder to show their respect for him and waited for him to speak. "Thank you for waiting so patiently. Forgive my lateness, I was talking to an old friend and lost track of time-"

The men didn't say anything, figuring that since their village leader had been visiting then they could let the matter rest on the account that the elder didn't have very many living friends left. "Now if you gents are finished talking among yourselves... Please follow me and keep your noise level to an absolute minimum."

The clan heads exchanged puzzled looks but followed the elder into the cave anyways.


	4. Chapter 4

They walked for what felt like forever. But was actually only an hour before they came to a stop in an underground cavern that was filled with aged, carved marble, lush green grass, crystals and _treasure_.

The clan heads all looked around the softly lit cavern in _shock_, _awe_ and _surprise_ at all of the glittering priceless gems, gold and silver bars and coins. There was so much of the stuff that it made up several miniture mountains.

Where the hell had it all come from? And what was all of it doing buried so far underneath the village? They all wondered as Hiashi reached out and picked up a blood red ruby almost the size of his hand and studied it before the Hokage turned and saw him and snapped, "Put that down this instant!"

Hiashi gave his Kage an odd look, but did as the elder bid him and put the gem down and then stuffed his hands into his pants pockets so that he wouldn't be tempted to touch anything else.

Sarutobi gave the Hyuga a dark look then turned and started walking again, making sure to stay in the middle of the cavern where there was a small man made dirt path that wove around the mountains of treasure and led to some unknown place.

"Keep up boys. I don't want you getting lost down here. I may never be able to find you again." _Not that I would allow a bunch of strangers to look. Not when someone might take some of Saya's offerings. _Sarutobi thought as he led the men past what looked like an alter with a large crystal flower attached to the top of it.

The gleaming stone that made up the flower petals, shone with a kaleidoscope of pale colors ranging from pink to green to blue and purple with tints of soft yellow. They walked a little further and stopped outside of a massive wooden door that stood at least fifty feet high.

"Good lord! Who put that there?" Nartsu Uchiha exclaimed in surprise, his dark eyes wide as the elder reached out and without any trouble at all, pushed the massive door open to reveal a white marble stone area that looked suspicously like a bathing area.

The white marble led off into a clear blue lake that was surrounded by the stone and standing just a few feet from the shore, waist deep in the waters, splashing around was what looked like a naked child.

Sarutobi held up a hand indicating that they should stop when they were just a few feet away from the edge of the lake. "Saya. We're here. Would you like to come out now?" Sarutobi asked and the men all stared at the child as she jerked her head around a little bit and looked at them over one of her shoulders.

They saw only the slightest glimpse of scarlet before the color changed and she turned her head back around and continued to splash in the water. Their Kage was silent for a moment before he shrugged off his white robe and walked forward and held it out to the child as she stopped splashing and turned it's head to look at the elder before sighing and taking the robe and wrapping it around it's small, slender body as Shikaku asked.

"My lord why are we here? Who is this child? And what is this place?"

Sarutobi ignored Shikaku's questions and held out one of his held his hands and waited patiently for the child to take it. Once the little one placed his/her hand in his the elder pulled him/her out of the frigid waters allowing the group their first real look at the child.

It was a girl if the flawless, angelic features were anything to go by.

She was about ten years of age, her body was petite, and _frighteningly_ under developed for a child her age. Her hair was a peculiar mix of pale blond with soft pink highlights. The silken strands fell down her back nearly to her ankles.

And her eyes-

They were an odd to say the least. Neon blue one moment and a deep,_ deep_ sapphire that looked more purple than blue. "Saya, dearest, these men are your potential anchors. I asked them to come here so that you could choose one to make a contract with. Do you want to begin?"

The child shook her head no and tugged at one of the lapels of the Kage's robe, a small frown marring her face. Sarutobi noticed the child's expression and chuckled. "It's itchy isn't it?"

The child looked up at him for a second and nodded her head. "Alrighty then-" Sarutobi said as he knelt down and pointed to the left where there was a large sheet of silk hanging from two pillars and continued, "I have brought you several things. You should be able to find something to wear out of all of them while I answer some of the questions these guys have alright."

The little girl nodded her head and took a step and made a squeaking sound when her leg gave out and she fell. Sarutobi reached down and automatically slipped his hands under her arms and lifted her and set her back onto her feet then let her go.

She managed to get a good twenty five steps away from the group before falling this time.


	5. Chapter 5

Once the little girl was tucked away behind the large silk curtain all eyes turned to Sarutobi. "If you have questions then ask them." Sarutobi said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"First of all, where are we?" One of the younger men asked curiously.

Sarutobi shrugged his shoulders and looked around for a second. "All I can tell you is what I was told about this place-" He said as he turned his head a little bit and glanced towards the place where the girl was, a thoughtful expression crossing his face before he said.

"When I was fifteen years old I was brought to this place by the first and second Hokages. The specific purpose of this place is to serve as a tomb...or something. But before it served as a tomb, it was a sacred place where the valley's guardian god used to live."

"Guardian?" Hiashi Hyuga asked stupidly.

"God?" Shikaku asked in a thoroughly scandalized tone while everyone else stared at the old man in disbelief before laughing. Sarutobi looked at Shikaku strangely before snapping at him.

"_Yes_ a guardian god. And stop laughing at your Kage! You're being rude!"

"Well forgive me sir, but I can't help it. You _are_ joking after all."

"This is no joke Shikaku. I'm dead serious about what this place is and what function it serves." Sarutobi said seriously.

"Hokage-sama, in the scroll that you sent around to us; you said that you were calling a meeting about the upcoming war. What does _this_ have to do with _that_?" Natsu Uchiha asked curiously.

"Aside from the the caverns being able to house every man, woman, and child in the village for several years if need be; not much of anything. It's _what_ is found here that can be of use to us."

"I agree. The gold and jewels can be used to try and establish good-" Sarutobi shook his head and cut Inoichi off.

"The gold and jewels aren't to be touched for any reason. Those things have been down here for hundreds of thousands of years and will never see the light of day again. Anyone foolish enough to think that they can take even one coin or gem from this place will suffer greatly because the gold and such does not belong to any of us-" Sarutobi glanced towards the curtain where the child was getting dressed and pointed.

"Those things are _hers_ and hers alone. It took her a very long time to collect them and we haven't the right to _touch_ them unless she gives her permission."

The men all fell silent and frowned. Their Hokage was speaking in riddles and wasn't making any sense to them. "Well if you weren't referring to the coins and gems then what exactly is it that can be of used to us? Why are we here?" Choza asked almost impatiently.

The curtain rose and the little girl under it then let it fall as she half staggered half walked back over to them.

Sarutobi's attention shifted from them, and he once again ignored their question as the girl rejoined them. She stopped next to Sarutobi and looked up at the elder and played with the skirt of her pale aqua colored dress for a second before going totally still and handing Sarutobi a sharp hand made flint knife and grasped a strand of her hair and held it up.

Sarutobi sighed and put a hand on one of her shoulders and pulled her over to stand right in front of him and asked, "How short do you want it?"

The girl reached an arm around to her back and ran one of her fingers along her back, just shy of the middle of it and Sarutobi grasped a thick chunk and sawed it off. All in all the process didn't last more than five minutes. And once the elder was done, the girls hair was not only shorter, but hung down her back in layers and curled cutely at the tips.

Now- They all thought in irritation. Now they would finally get some answers. The elder pocketed the flint kunai and finger combed the girl's hair to make sure that he didn't miss any strands and then said in a hopeful tone. "Okay, all done. Now would you like to meet these young men?"

The girl looked at the group and shifted slightly from foot to foot and fidgeted as she nodded her head. Sarutobi smiled and patted her on top of the head, ruffling the soft strands of her hair affectionately before she reached up and pushed his hand off of her head. Her little fox ears stuck straight up for a second before she flattened them against back against her head.

The slight action wasn't missed by the men. They simply didn't want to believe what they had seen.

"Everyone this is Saya. The guardian god of our village. I want each of you to introduce yourselves _politely _to her and tell her your hopes for the future. If she likes your answer then one of you will be lucky enough to be chosen to make a contract with her. The contract is simple, should one of you be chosen then you will exchange chakra's that will bind the two of you together until her current life cycle ends. The one chosen will be her _protector_, her _provider_ and her _lover_ once her body matures. If she is treated well, then she will treat you well. But if you ever hurt her, she will kill you and wipe out your entire blood line. _No one_ will be spared. Not any of your women or children. Do I make myself clear?"

The men all looked at the Hokage as if he had lost his mind then looked at the girl.

There was no way that the child could be what the Hokage said she was. But then again there was something odd about her. They just couldn't put their finger on what it was that made her odd.


	6. Chapter 6

Saya stood perfectly still as one by one the men approached her and told her their names and their hopes for the future. So far she had already peered into the hearts of four. The Uchiha wasn't anyone that she wanted to associate with.

He and his clan were too hungry for power to even be considered. The Aburame was a fairly simple man to understand. He loved insects and wouldn't settle for anyone unless they liked insects too.

So he was out.

The Yamanaka had no interest in settling down what so ever. If chosen by her, he would be far more likely to fuck her until he got tired of her then move on. And that was unacceptable to her.

The Akimichi was already more than a little bit in love with some one, and though he would still be acceptable she knew that choosing him wouldn't lead him to happiness so she let him be and silently wished him the best of luck and many years of happiness.

The Inuzuka was a pleasant surprise to her.

He was the only one who had caught her scent and could smell the power that clung to her fragile child like form like a suit of armor.

The Hyuga was far too arrogant for his own good. She'd kill him with in a week. So he was out.

Which only left the silver haired male and another male with dark hair and eyes. A Hatake and a Nara. She'd know them from their characteristics.

Hatakes always had mis matched eyes. Blue and green, aqua and brown, turqouise and azure... The list was endless. And then there was several other defining characteristics that set them apart from the others.

The silver hair, the heavy muscular build, the razor sharp intellect. This male was no different.

He was younger than the last Hatake that she had met, his facial features were savagely _beautiful_ with his perfectly sculpted jaw and high cheek bones, his eyes had an slightly exotic tilt to them at the upper corner, he had a sensual mouth. His bottom lip was slightly fuller than his top lip.

His hair was longer than she had ever seen on a Hatake, the tips falling just a little ways past his broad shoulders.

He looked at her, his mismatched eyes seemed to stare right through her.

Her heart constricted in her chest and she inwardly sighed and turned her attention to the Nara male since it was his turn. Shikaku Nara was a very honest, very polite, very lethal man.

Humble, yet arrogant at the same time. He wanted simple things. A nice job, a nice home, a wife (some day) and maybe a kid or two. Those were his hopes for the future. Which meant that he wasn't ready for those things just yet.

Saya smiled and offered her hand to him once he was done and was more than a little pleased when he took her small hand in his and shook it before letting go and then stepped aside so that the Hatake male could move closer.

He didn't say anything at first, he just stared at her then looked at Sarutobi and growled, "Is this necessary?" He still didn't really understand why they were introducing themselves to a mere child.

"It is. Now tell her who you are."

"Why?" _Why should I follow the example of fools? _

"_Sakumo_-" Sarutobi growled warningly at the younger man. Earning a dark look from the Hatake. "Stop acting like a petulent child and introduce yourself to her."

"At least tell me what the purpose of this meeting is, my lord? Tell me why it's so important that we meet this child?"

"I already told all of you the _why_ of everything. Now stop your whining and tell her your name!"

"No. You didn't tell us anything aside from a bullshit story about a_ fabled_ guardian god. I want to know the truth." Sakumo said in an angry tone. Sarutobi bared his teeth at the younger man and took a dangerous step forward when the girl reached out and stopped him by grasping his wrist. The elder looked down at her as she let go of his wrist and pointed to herself.

Sarutobi frowned. "What is it dearest?" He asked worriedly as Saya's voice whispered in his mind.

_I can show them my true form. If it will lay all of this nonsense about fables and such to rest. If it will help them to believe... _

"But you _hate_ your true form." Sarutobi said as he turned his back on Sakumo whom was looking back and forth between the child and elder with a puzzled expression on his face. He had no idea how the two were communicating with each other since the girl hadn't spoken so much as a damn word in the entire time they had all been there.

But it was clear to him that the girl and the Kage _were_ communicating never the less.

_No. I loath it. I loath the claws and fangs that have so easily ripped many beings asunder. I loath seeing my own reflection and not being able to recognise myself. I loath my eyes, which have seen the true depths of horror and despair that human kind has suffered. But if it will help these men know the truth then I will do it. But only this once. _

"Very well. Do what you must-" Sarutobi said as Hiashi leaned in and whispered to Yamanaka,

"Does anyone else think it's weird that our Kage is talking to himself and pretending that he's talking to a mute kid?" Inoichi nodded his head and got an uneasy look on his face before saying.

"Either the old man has had a stroke and lost his mind or that kid really is a god of some kind."

"That or she is using a blood line limit to communicate directly with him." Natsu said in a hushed tone as the girl turned and walked over to the lake and started walking across the surface of the water until she put a good distance between herself and them.

She looked back at them and then in a sudden burst of bluish green flames the small body vanished and a massive sixty foot white nine tailed fox appeared. The creature threw it's head back and gave a deafening roar, its many tails thrashing above the surface of the water.

Everyone covered their ears in an effort to block out the sound of the monster's roar as Sakumo reached out and grabbed the Hokage and pushed the smaller man behind him as he pulled a kunai and tensed his body before he even had time to register what he was doing.

And when he did finally realise what he was doing he inwardly laughed at his idiotic actions. A flimsy little kunai wasn't going to damage a creature with fangs and claws the size and width of trees. It just wasn't possible.

The creature quieted down and took one step closer to where they were all standing and leaned down it's head and stared at Sakumo with the biggest, most terrifying pair of crimson eyes that the man had ever seen before and _growled _out in a soft rumbling voice that could have shook the entire mountain down above their heads. **_"Tell me your name."_**

"S-Sakumo H-Hatake." Sakumo said in a rush as he started to shake. The creature bared it's fangs at him in a parody of a smile and slowly shrank down, the bones contorting, the features changing, the red bleeding from the eyes-

Until Sakumo found himself staring at the little girl from before. The girl gave him a cheeky grin and flipped her hair over one of her shoulders and said in a soft husky tone. "See that wasn't so bad now was it."

_Speak for yourself, I think I need to change my pants. _Sakumo thought as the little girl laughed happily before saying, "You'll do Sakumo-san."

"_D-Do?_ Do what? What am I doing?" Sakumo asked stupidly in an alarmed tone of voice.

"Making a contract with me of course." The girl said as she reached out and grabbed the hand with the kunai in it and pried the weapon from his numb fingers then pressed the blade against his palm and cut.

Sakumo hissed and forced himself not to twitch of shrink away. His mind still trying to compute what had just happened while his instincts fairly _screamed_ at him not to do anything stupid that could upset the nice little girl and make her change back into that large monster and eat him.

Once she was done cutting up his hand she turned the blade on herself and started to cut her hand up too. The process only took two minutes, but by the time she was done Sakumo could feel a strange 'pull' in the back of his mind, and the center of his chest.

Just what the fuck was she doing? Sure a contract had been mentioned...several times. But he couldn't seem to fully wrap his mind around what sort of contract it was.

One of his legs was kicked out from under him, forcing him down into a kneeling position as he felt the girl grasp his bleeding hand in hers. And blinked and jerked back a little bit when she stepped into his personal space, her small face just inches from his own.

_What is she doing? What is she doing?_ **_What is she doing?_** Sakumo thought in a panic as she leaned in and pressed her little mouth against his own. His mind went blank for a moment before he grabbed the girl and threw her into the lake and yelled.

"You'll never take me alive!" Then turned and started running for the door as fast as he could.


	7. Chapter 7

Later that night-

Sakumo stood in the door way to his bedroom watching the little girl exploring his personal sanctuary warily while trying to comprehend how he had ended up with his new 'lovely' little friend as she played with the light switch on the small lamp attached to his wall, right next to his bed.

The last thing he truly remembered about tonight's events was when the girl had pressed her mouth against his and having the thought of, _Oh my god she's tasting me to see if_ _I'm eatable!_ Cross his mind before he had grabbed the girl/monster and thrown her in the direction of the lake with all his might while he jumped to his feet and yelled, "You'll never take me alive!"

Then made a mad dash for the door intending to escape.

He'd never made it to the door.

In fact he didn't get very far at all before the girl had appeared in front of him and cut off his escape route, pounced on him, knocked him down and-

Everything from that point was pretty much a blur. Either he must have hit his head and maybe passed out for a few minutes or what had happened next was so _traumatic_ that he had blocked it from his mind altogether.

But he knew one thing. The contract that the Hokage and the girl had spoken of before, had gone through.

He was now _bound_ to the strangely curious female whom had switched her attention from the light fixture on his wall to bouncing on his bed and giggling like mad. He sighed and rubbed the nape of his neck and wondered idly what he was supposed to do with her.

She stopped bouncing on his bed and got up and ran towards him, the sudden movement was so quick and hard for him to track that he nearly jumped out of his skin and died on the spot when he felt small arms wrap around his waist and hold him.

He blinked and looked down expecting to maybe find himself cut in half or something and instead saw the top of the girl's blond/pink head as she pressed her face against his stomach and made a low rumbling purring sound.

Sakumo blinked again and absently put one hand on top of her head and grasped one of her arms in the other and tried to pry her loose when she said, "I'm hungry, Sakumo."

He went totally still, his heart leaping up into his throat for a moment before he gave a slightly hysterical and shakey laugh and said, "Well then, I should probably feed you." _Before you decide to go monster on my ass and eat me up. _

The girl made a happy sound and let go of his waist then grabbed his hand and practically pulled him down the hall away from his bedroom and stopped when she reached the living room and looked around with a small frown on her angelic little face.

He looked down at her _dreading_ the temper tantrum that he just knew must be boiling underneath the surface of her sort of calm exterior and asked in an uneasy tone. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at him and squeezed his hand a little bit and flushed as she said in a shy tone, "I don't know where to go now." Sakumo stared at her for a second, wondering if it was at all possible for a goddess to have no sense of direction when it occurred to him that she hadn't seen his entire house yet. And as such didn't know where his kitchen or anything else was.

This might not have been so bad to deal with if he wasn't so worried about the fact that she could gobble him up without breaking a sweat if she wanted too. "Ah, well..." Sakumo said feeling at a loss about what to do next and just lifted his free hand and pointed to the left and said, "Kitchen's that way."

She looked up at him with those wide innocent crystalin blue/violet eyes of hers and smiled at him then started in the direction that he had pointed. Leaving him standing there in the hall way scratching his cheek and wondering if he could make it out the door before she could catch him.

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Her anchor was uneasy around her. Saya supposed that she couldn't blame him for that.

She'd be uneasy too if she had found herself bound to a creature god too. And though she was trying to make him feel a little more at ease in her presence by acting like a normal child, her anchor was being stubborn.

The man seemed bound and determined to offend her in his efforts to steer clear of being eaten by her. She was sorely temped to tell him that she hadn't eaten a human in over a thousand years. But she doubted that that would help him feel any better.

So she stayed quiet.

And after a while wondered how he was going to react to her need to cuddle with her anchor every chance she got. She looked at him over her shoulder and noted that he hadn't moved an inch from the hall way and sighed. He'd probably react to her need to cuddle, _violently_. She sighed again and reminded him softly from over her shoulder, "Hungry Sakumo. Hungry."

Sakumo snapped himself out of his funk and silently fell into step behind her, no doubt worried that she might be about to take a bite out of him.


	8. Chapter 8

Wow you guys are awesome.

I'm glad to say that my husband is one hell of a catch- he fixed my computer for me.

So natrually I had to write something for you since I'm rather fond of this story too.

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Saya stared at the burnt food that her anchor had set down in front of her and felt the need to growl. Did he really expect her to eat burnt food? She was a goddess for fuck sake! She'd be far more likely to consume an human infant fresh from the womb than this crap.

Still it didn't stop her from picking up her chop sticks and poking at the charred meat, or the blackened vegetables before she sighed and set the chop sticks aside and picked up her plate and walked over to the kitchen door and opened it then tossed the burnt food out.

"Hey! What are you doing? That's wasteful!" Sakumo snapped irritably from behind her as she closed the door and then turned to look at him. Her vivid blue purple eyes glared at him for a second before she walked over to him and used one hand to shove him aside and made her way into his kitchen where she started to go through his stuff.

"That food-" The banging of various pots and pans being pulled from the cabinet nearly drowned out the sound of her voice. "Isn't fit for even a gerbal to eat."

Sakumo bristled a little bit and growled at the irritating girl. Goddess or not, that had hurt his feelings a little bit.

"What the did you expect? I'm a bachelor for gods sake!"

Saya stopped going through his cabinets and looked at him over her shoulder and flattened her ears against her head and then said. "A bachelor huh. You'd think that someone that lived alone would at the very least _know_ how to cook for himself. It's a wonder that you haven't _starved_ to death yet with the way you cook."

Sakumo gaped at her in outrage for a second or so as she resumed going through his pots and pans until she had several of them set out on his counter. "What the hell are you doing?" Sakumo asked after a second or so. His voice a low rumbling growl.

Saya didn't answer him. Instead she chose to ignore him and his warning tone and went ahead and started to go through his fridge like she had seen him do earlier. She found some meat and vegetables right off the bat and pulled them out.

She was about to set them on the counter when she felt an large steely arm slip around her middle and she was lifted up off of the floor by her anchor and set down outside of the kitchen, the meat and vegetables in her hands were taken and put back into the fridge.

"What are you doing?" Saya asked Sakumo curiously as she turned to look at him. Her anchor had a vexed look on his handsome face, his back was against the fridge, his arms were crossed over his chest and there was a stubborn look to him as he glared at her.

Saya was tempted to give him a cheeky smile just to irritate him further but knew better than to push the male so early in the game when they were still feeling each other out. "I'm putting the food away." Sakumo said firmly.

"Why?"

"Because you already had your dinner and wasted it." He said in irritation.

Saya gave him a peculiar look a second before she pointed her index finger at him and fired a little beam of chakra at him. The beam hit the fridge, right next to his head and Sakumo felt himself start shaking again as he turned his head a little bit and looked at the fist sized hole in his freezer and paled as he looked back at the girl. What the hell was she trying to do? Take his head off?

"Move." It was an order that was just a little difficult for him to ignore after how she had fired some chakra at his head like she had a second ago. The hole in his freezer door was starting to smoke a little bit.

He stared at the girl, his expression darkening a little bit. If the brat thought that she could do whatever she wanted just because she was a monster...then she was probably going to end up _killing_ him for being stubborn. "No."

Saya gave him a creepy little smile and fired another chakra blast toawards him. This time it thudded into the fridge in between his legs.

Dangerously close to his crotch.

Her anchor went as white as a sheet as he looked down to check and make sure that he was still in one piece before looking back at her in shock before quickly scrambling away from the fridge and over the counter where he ducked down low and seemed to be hiding. Saya snickered and walked over to the fridge and reached into the hole that her chakra had made in the metal and pulled out a piece of meat the size of her fist and started to eat.

She would apologize to her anchor later for her display of temper. Right now she had an empty stomach to fill.


	9. Chapter 9

The second Saya finished eating she looked around the messy kitchen in a little bit of a daze and sighed tiredly. "Saku-" The man hiding on the other side of the counter grunted, but didn't speak. "Are you mad at me?"

Sakumo remained silent, though he found her question a mite strange. Of course he was pissed. She had scared, bullied and then threatened him. In his own home to boot. Where his word was practically law. _Who_ in their right mind wouldn't be pissed about that?

He heard her shift a little bit and looked to his left as she peeked around the corner at him. Her vivid eyes changing from periwinkle to stormy violet, her little fox ears twitching as she waited for him to answer her.

"Saku? Are you giving me the silent treatment?" The girl asked in a tentative tone as she crawled around the corner of the counter and sat down just outside of reaching distance.

Sakumo didn't answer her, again. He did however glare at her for trying to act like a sweet little kid after the shit that she had pulled.

He didn't care who or what she was. _No one_ treated him like that in his house and stayed in his good graces. He'd toss the girl out on her cute little ass before he put up with her bratty behavior any further- He jumped a little in surprise when the girl curled up on the floor next to him and lay her head on one of his legs.

Completely ignoring his temper and all common sense.

His fingers twitched and he reached out, momentarily wanting to wrap his hand around her little neck and put so fear into her, but stopped himself when it occurred to him that his Kage was strangely attached to the child and might have him killed if he strangled the life out of- Or hurt her in _any_ way.

"_What are you doing_?" He bit out from between clenched teeth. His frustration over his situation reaching new heights that sent his blood pressure soaring. If he didn't do something soon he'd have a frigging stroke.

The girl didn't say anything. She just lay there with her head on his leg, seemingly ignoring him. He growled and grabbed the nape of her neck intending to squeeze until she looked at him when he noticed a small rumbling vibration under his fingers, almost like she was purring. Just because he touched her!

He tried to hold onto his anger and frustration, really he did. But this sudden bizarre turn of events made shocked him so much that he forgot for a second what he was so pissed at her about. He pressed his forefinger and index finger against the front of her throat, over her vocal cords and frowned a little vbit when he felt the rapid vibrations in them, more.

She really was purring. And he...didn't have a fucking clue on what to do with her now. The soft purring she was doing reminded him of helpless kittens and how he usually loved cuddling them just to hear them purr.

But this was considerably different from cuddling a defenseless animal. For one she had fangs and claws and obviously wasn't afraid of using them. And secondly he'd seen her true form and was still of an opinion that she was inevitably going to eat him.

And he had no way of knowing what it was that would set her off since he had witnessed a small glimpse her temperment _twice_ already.

Things weren't looking terribly promising for him. He shifted his fingers through her silken hair and grabbed the tip of one of her little ears between his fingers and pulled on it a little bit and said in a hushed tone. "Don't think that you can pull this cutesy crap and make me forgive you everytime you do something to piss me off. Tomorrow, you're cleaning up the mess you made. And my floor had better be spotless or I'm gonna toss you out on your cute little butt."

He let go of her ear and settled his back against the counter and sighed. He'd give anything to be able to speak so frankly with the girl without fear of retaliation.

Preferrably when she was awake enough to listen to him and his bitching.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Sakumo awoke partially reclining against his counter with a horrible crick in his neck and the fox girl, creature, thingy- partially curled up in his lap, still unconscious.

_No doubt from all of the food that she had consumed the night before._ He thought darkly as he rolled his shoulders a little bit to try and work the kink out of his neck. While trying to come up with a legitimate reason to explain to his local grocer _why_ he was going to need to replace an army's worth of food after just three days.

Somehow saying that he was hit by a fanged midget typhoon just didn't seem right.

Partially because he would be admitting that he was living with something or someone that hadn't been in his home before and partially because he knew how the gossip mills worked. The second he said anything about anything people would be speculating on all kinds of shit.

Like was he going to throw a party and open up his properties to the other clans? Did he finally have a girlfriend? Things that would infuriate him. Things that were absolutely noone's business.

Especially since he was stuck with this- this _odd- _He grasped the back of her shirt and tried to remove her from his leg but she only twitched and wrapped her little arms around his upper leg causing him to scowl in annoyance- and annoyingly _clingy_ little...er, child for the moment.

And he didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea about him.

He didn't like little girls. He certainly didn't like little girls that scared the bejesus out of him. Hell, he didn't like kids in general. Everytime one of his married friends _tried_ to hand him one; he threatened to strangle them with their intestines. Thus causing his friends to walk away from him, feeling that a repeat of the offer would be unwise.

He managed to get the kink out of his neck, out and looked down at his unwanted house guest with another scowl on his face as he thought. _I need to get her up off of the floor before she get's sick. _

He leaned forward a little bit and lifted his leg just enough to carefully pry her arms out from around it and gently pick her up and with a resigned/irked sigh held her against his chest as he slowly shifted so that he could get his feet under him while she curled up against him and buried her face against the hollow of his throat, making him pause for a second as he wondered if she was a biter and if he should be worried.

He quickly dismissed those thoughts though when she tried to climb up onto his shoulder while he got to his feet and stared to walk out of the room. He didn't brother putting her on the couch like he wanted.

Instead he kept reminding himself (for some ungodly reason that he didn't understand) that she was a child and would probably need the comfort of a bed and took her straight to his room where he put her in his bed and pulled the covers up over her and then turned around and left the room so that he could get started on cleaning the mess in the kitchen.

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Saya slept most of the morning away before finally waking to the sound of a rough masculine voice, swearing from somewhere in the house. Kicking the covers off Saya sat up and slipped off fo the corner of the bed she'd been sleeping in and paused and looked around.

The room was decently sized, the furniture antique, the curtains covering the window across from the bed were a vivid off mint green color with emerald green vines on them. She glanced down at the bedsheets and her lips quirked up at the corners a little bit in amusement. The bedsheets matched the curtains.

Which was a truly rare thing for a male to do since they never showed the slightest bit of interest in matching _anything_ in their home decor.

She looked around the area again, checking for other things and noticed that the room was very clean. Like inhumanly, freakishly clean. She walked over to the dresser and ran her index finger along the top then looked at it and grunted.

Well...there wasn't even dust in here. She heard some more swearing followed by the sound of a foot kicking something which was closely followed by even louder swearing. Just what was the man doing in the other room anyways? She wondered as she slipped out of the bedroom and slowly, cautiously made her way down the hall towards the sound of Sakumo's swearing and paused in the door way to the kitchen and blinked in surprise.

The kitchen was practically glowing it was so clean.

And to top it all off the tabe and it's chairs had all been pushed against the wall to one side of the room and the kitchen had been laid out on it's back and Sakumo was sitting there next to it with his vest and headband discarded. His shirt sleeves rolled up over his forearms and he was leaning over the opening that she had created in the door of the fridge, scowling at it angrily.

"What's wrong?" Saya asked curiously as she quietly padded across the floor to look over his shoulder and see what he was up too. He didn't even look at her. The only acknowledgement of her presence that he gave was a rough sounding grunt as he picked up something metal and started to hit the fridge with it in an effort to get the jagged edges together again so that he could patch the hole up completely.

He paused after several hits and turned hsi head to give her a sour look then growled, _"Move away now."_

She blinked at him, uncertain about his tone when he said, "The fridge is broken. Now go work on breaking something else far, _far_ away from me while I attempt to fix this." Saya scrunched up her nose and gave him a funny look. Wondering if he even realized what he'd just said.


	11. Chapter 11

By the time lunch rolled around Sakumo was about ready to pull his hair out.

It had been a huge, huge, _huge_ mistake to tell that pint sized nightmare to go mess with his things because now he was down a microwave, a TV, a goddamn _ceiling fan (_he did not know how she had managed that, but he was pretty sure it took some doing since he didn't know if she even knew how to use her chakra) several light fixtures, the spare fridge hidden in his panic room-

The list went on and on as he tore through every room in the house looking for the girl just for the sake of strangling her. He walked past his study and headed for the back room when he heard something crash to the floor somewhere behind him and abruptly turned and started the other way, growling like an animal.

_So help me god, if I get my hands on that girl I swear on my father's grave I'll-_ He stopped cold just in the doorway to his study and blinked at the sight before him. There she was.

The little monster, rolling around the floor with a bunch of electrical wires in trailing from a hole in the wall the size of a small fist, all the way over to the area around her where she had some wrapped around her slender body while she was chewing on some others.

_Chewing! _"Hey! Drop those and stop slobbering on them!" Sakumo bellowed in outrage. Saya turned her head to look at him, but didn't stop chewing on the wires and Sakumo wondered how long it was going to take before she got herself electrocuted.

It apparently didn't take long since he saw her bite down then jump and twitch as sparks flew from between her teeth. This might have been amusing to him (for all the trouble she'd caused) but being a man who had a strong dislike of anything crying in general he promptly stomped across the room and smacked her on the back of the head causing her to spit the fire hazard out.

He snatched her up off of the floor and away from the sparking wires as the lights overhead flickered and held her at arms length and shook her a little bit before tossing her over one of his shoulders and with an angry sound headed for the door. He was going to get her the hell out of his house before she destroyed everything he'd worked so hard to keep in one piece!

He found himself on Shikaku's doorstep not even twenty minutes later without even recalling how he'd gotten there he was so pissed about the damages to his home.

He knocked and waited another five minutes until the door opened and Sakumo unceremoniously thrust Saya into the shadow user's arms and said with a cheery smile. "Here, thake the little monster." Then turned on his heel and stomped away before the shadow user could so much as say anything.

The second he was out of sight and earshot Shikaku turned Saya in his arms so that they were facing each other and gave her an apologetic smile as her little ears flattened back against her head while her tail twitched in irritation. "So..uh, he's not settling into his new role as the the protector/provider huh?" Shikaku asked in an amused tone of voice.

Saya growled at him, the sound startling him slightly before he put her down. "He's the most vexing man I've ever met-" Saya said in a huffy tone as she crossed her arms over her chest then growled again and gritted out, "Well? Invite me in!"

Shikaku looked over his shoulder at his home and visibly cringed at the sheer amount of dirty laundry littering the floor. "I'm...not so sure that's a good idea, m'lady."

Saya scrunched up her nose for a second then sighed. "I can already smell your dirty clothes."

"Then you know why I can't invite a lady like yourself inside. So instead why don't I take you back to Sakumo's and while we walk, I'll tell you how to drive that rigid man absolutely nuts."

"I think I already have."

"Have what?"

"Driven him nuts."

"Why would you say that?" Shikaku wondered aloud.

"Because I broke a bunch of things, ate all of his food, slept in his bed, and earlier I pee'd in his study and buried his TV remote." Shikaku was at such a loss for words that all he could do was gape at her in comical horror.


	12. Chapter 12

Shikaku was laughing his ass off by the time he took the little guardian goddess back to Sakumo's place an hour later, where they spotted the silver haired man sitting on one of the steps of his porch with one of the machines Saya had earlier broken. With his hair tied back and a screwdriver in his mouth and a wrench and a few wires held in between his gloved hands as he bent over the back of the machine where Saya had ripped off the metal pannel to get a closer look inside.

"Yo Saku!" Shikaku called out in his usual lazy manner as they drew closer. The Hatake looked up for a second and bared his teeth at them around the screwdriver then lowered his head again and started to ignore them until they got close enough for him to spit out the screwdriver and growl.

"What the fuck are you doing bringing _that_ thing here? I gave her to you after all."

"But she's your responsibility Saku." Shikaku said in an amused tone despite how tense he felt at the moment. Sakumo glanced up from the fridge laying between his legs and growled in a surly tone.

"She _not_ my responsibility. She was pushed onto me because no one else would take her." Sakumo paused long enough to tighten a screw then muttered. "Assholes. The whole goddamn lot of you."

Shikaku snickered at the older man's temper and looked down at Saya who was being strangely silent and saw an oddly dejected look on her face and automatically sobered. "Saya-sama-" He started to say something to the girl.

Something like 'He didn't mean it' or 'He's just being an ass' but somehow he doubted that she would believe him.

Saya hung her head a little bit and turned away so that her back was to them. Frankly Sakumo wasn't the only person that she had encountered that had ever said such things about her, or to her. There had been a countless number of people since the beginning. She just wished that it didn't hurt so much each time.

She knew that she was difficult. Both to understand and to please.

And she had been working on ways to soften her personality. To make herself more _appealing_ to her partners. But every partner expected different traits and she couldn't keep up with all of the changes in her personality. So she had just stopped.

Stopped changing. Stopped evolving. Stopped everything but caring.

That simply seemed to be the one thing that she was totally incapable of.

Saya felt a hand gently touch her shoulder and lifted her head a fraction, sensing that both men had fallen silent some time ago and were both staring at her. One with a concerned look and the other with a small frown. As if wondering what her problem was. "Saya-sama, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I think I'm just going to go for a walk." Saya said in an emotionless tone before shrugging the hand off and walking away.

Sakumo's eyes stayed firmly fixed on the munchkin's back up until she disappeared. His expression was for the most part blank though he did have a small frown on his face. The kid had seemed oddly subdued compared to how she had been acting since he brought her home.

_Dammit don't tell me that she's getting sick and ripping my things apart is her way of telling me that she's unwell? _He thought. Cause he'd just feel horrible if that was the case. Then again maybe she'd been acting so subdued had something to do with how he'd been acting like a jerk. He mentally went over what he'd said a few moment earlier and inwardly cringed at his own stupidity.

God how could he say something like that to her, or even in front of her. Sure she had more or less been pushed onto him against his will but his words had been cruel. Wounding even. He sighed and moved the hand with the screwdriver out of the way and banged his head against the thin strip of thick metal running along the bottom of the area he'd been repairing.

The audible clang drawing Shikaku's eyes to him a second before the shadow user snarled something nasty at him, his mother and his whole damned clan and then disappeared to go find the kid before she got herself into trouble or something. Sighing Sakumo set his tools aside and sat there for a moment.

He should go look for the kid too.

He needed to apologise to her for what he'd said, but he was a little scared too due to the fact that he didn't do well with children. What if he only managed to fuck things up even more? What if she cried? _Those things don't matter any Sakumo. You messed up. Now it's time to man up. _An unfamiliar voice said in his mind as he set the rest of his tools aside and stood up.

He could do that, he supposed. He needed a break from working on that damned fridge anyways.


	13. Chapter 13

Saya didn't bother paying attention to where she was going. She couldn't see anything through the blur of tears threatening to spill over from her eyes. Subconsciously picking up speed, she ran blindly through the thicket of trees that led to the woods.

Hoping to disappear.

She couldn't believe the words her chosen partner had spoken. She was a pest. A nuisance. He wanted nothing to do with her.

Of course those were natrual feelings for most of her partners at first, but that usually changed once they got to know her a little bit. The problem with Saku was that he didn't want to get to know her. He didn't even care to try. He didn't know how much she already relied on him. Or how much his mere thoughts of her could hurt her.

And that was the real kicker right there.

Sakumo Hatake for all his talents and potential, was an ass. An insensitive, overbearing, uncaring ass. And she was stuck with him... _God this sucks. _She thought as her foot snagged on a tree root and she fell and lay on the ground unmoving for a moment as she tried and failed to reign in her emotions before finally breaking down in ragged sobs.

Tucking her tail between her legs she turned over onto her side and curled her body slightly as she wiped at her eyes with one dirty hand and cried harder.

Her partner was a jerk! She sobbed as she wiped away the flood of tears staining her face. No scratch that- he was a bastard.

Why were all of her partners so damn difficult? Didn't they understand that settling into a new life, with a new future mate was difficult too. She suffered abuses that she hadn't thought humanly possible before. But did anyone care? No. Never. It never occurred to them that they were hurting her.

They knew she was a goddess and placed their expectations upon her slender shoulders, expecting her to help them selflessly. But that wasn't how it worked.

She was a creation of 'man' and his beliefs. But the truth of the matter was that she was more like a sacrifice.

She lived for a short while and was either content or discontent, mated, had children, fought, 'died' then began the whole process all over again. It was _horrible _when one really thought about it.

And not once have any of her partners ever acted like anything but jerks towards her.

She heard a sound, rustling in the bushes off to her left and her ears twitched a second before she felt a large hand wrap around her ankle. Snifling she wiped at her eyes again and then dropped her arm a little bit to see Sakumo kneeling down next to her with a worried look on his face.

"What happened?" He asked, wondering if she had been attacked by an animal or something. Saya frowned a little. How had he managed to sneak up on her? She should have heard him even over the sound of her crying, shouldn't she?

He sighed after a moment or so of silence and muttered something that sounded strangely like, "Lay still." As his hand traveled up from her ankle to her calf then her thigh, checking for injuries. So far aside from the skinned knees and the one hand that she was using to hide her eyes, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Which meant that her tears had probably been caused by his words. But that couldn't be, could it? _Inhuman creatures didn't cry when someone hurt their feelings! _

They wrecked things instead.

Sighing again, Sakumo lifted a hand to run his fingers through his wild silver hair then reached down and grasped the girl's wrist and tugged her up off of the ground and into his lap. Once he had her settled he ran a hand through her hair, feeling for any bumps that she may have gotten from falling down.

Hoping against hope that_ he_ wasn't the reason why she was crying her little heart out while trying to think of a logical explination for her behavior. However when he didn't find a bump or anything on her head he inwardly cringed. Well hell.

It looked like her breakdown _did_ have something to do with him after all.

"Uh...look-" _Shit!_ What was he supposed to say to her? Somehow he doubted an simple apology would do after the things he'd said and done to her up till now; but in his defense he hadn't thought that a goddess could have her feelings hurt.

Hell, he hadn't even been aware that goddesses had feelings to begin with!

He had always thought that gods stood apart from man in _every_ way. Strength, speed, agility, the purpose of guiding others to their destinies. When he really thought about it, those things were really all that gods were.

Something greater than man. So then why did he have a crying fox goddess in his arms? And what the hell was he going to do about it?


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